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Kształtowanie cyfrowej przyszłości Europy
News article | Publikacja

Eight proposals selected to become the first hubs of the European Digital Media Observatory

The Commission has announced the eight selected hubs, each one covering one or more Member States that will become part of the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) network of hubs on digital media to contribute to the fight against disinformation across Europe.

The EU is funding - with more than 11 million Euros - eight hubs that will help implement and expand the work of EDMO. Their aim is to put in place actions to increase EDMO’s capacity of tackling harmful disinformation campaigns at national and EU level, and analyse their impact on society and democracy.

Each hub will contribute to the creation of a multidisciplinary community by pulling together academic researchers, fact-checkers, media practitioners and other relevant stakeholders to create a network capable of:

  • Detecting and analysing disinformation campaigns, as well as producing content to support mainstream and local media  and  public  authorities  in  exposing  harmful  disinformation campaigns;
  • Organising media literacy activities at national or multinational level;
  • Providing support to national authorities for the monitoring of online platforms’ policies and the digital media ecosystem.

EDMO and its regional hubs are funded through the Connecting Europe Facility. They are independent from any national or EU public authority.

The selected hubs cover Ireland, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, as well as Norway, in the EEA. They should be operational by the end of summer 2021.

The eight selected hubs will sign the grant agreements with the EU in the upcoming months.

 The European Digital Media Observatory

 

The European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), which has become operational on 1 June 2020, serves as a hub for fact-checkers, academic researchers and other relevant stakeholders contributing to address disinformation in Europe. It also encourages and supports collaboration with media organisations, media literacy experts, and provides support to policy makers.

EDMO, as part of its first phase of activities, is working to deploy technical means and infrastructure to facilitate collaboration and knowledge exchange between researchers and fact-checkers in Europe, and coordinates joint activities at the EU level.

The second phase will start with the establishment of the first EDMO hubs that have just been announced. The aim is to eventually reach a full coverage of the EU and EEA.